Coach Al Schrauben wanted to see a better effort from his Shamrocks despite the victory.

"I was not real pleased the way we played defensively," he said. "I thought our half-court defense we were slow and never caught up to the ball all night long. There were a few times where we finally bodied up and pressured the ball harder and made it harder for them to throw the pass and then we were all right. We didn't do that nearly enough."

Leading 27-23 entering the third quarter, the Shamrocks were up 34-27 at 4:30 on Jennifer Bosworth's two foul shots. But the Shamrocks missed some key layups that could have extended their lead.

It was 36-32 St. Patrick going into the fourth quarter.

Danielle Simon scored off her own steal to open the fourth to extend the lead, But Carson City-Crystal fought back and Mackenzie Geister's baseliner with 4:30 to play made it a 40-39 game.

Dixon followed with two free throws and a layup to make it a 44-39 Shamrock lead a minute later.

Anne Mackowiak scored off a Shamrock steal and it was 46-39. But Mikayla Duflo netted a triple to keep the Eagles alive.

St. Patrick forced Carson City-Crystal to foul as time was favoring the Shamrocks. Both teams had key turnovers in the final 80 seconds. The Shamrocks missed chances to increase their lead but the Eagles squandered opportunities to cut into it.

Simon netted a free throw with 40 seconds left for a 47-42 lead and the Eagles threw the ball away. Duflo hit a triple to make it a 48-45 with 10 seconds to play, but Simon was fouled and sealed the deal with two free throws.

"It's a good win for us," Schrauben said. "They're a nice ballclub. We have a little more depth than they do. They won the league last year. It was a good win for us for a nonleague game."

"We work really well together when we're smart on our offense," Dixon said. "We had smart defense and played well together."

St. Patrick's full-court pressure was effective in some regards in the first half although not to Schrauben's satisfaction.

Simon and Anna Bosworth both netted triples in the first quarter to lead the Shamrocks to a 12-11 edge. Jennifer Bosworth scored off her own steal midway in the quarter for a 19-14 lead. Tori Goodrich sank a three-pointer moments later and the visitors were up 24-19. It was 27-23 at the break.

Page 2 of 2 - The Shamrocks were led by Duflo with 15 points.

"We need to go back to work, shore up our ball skills and make sure we're taking better care of the basketball than we did today," said Eagle coach Larry Farmer. "We turned the ball over too much. We had way too many turnovers. We didn't handle his press well. If we had gotten shots on possessions instead of giving it back to them, we could have pulled it out."

Bosworth added eight points for the winners.

St. Patrick now heads into the holiday break.

"We're working hard together as a team, are staying strong and can go into break happy we're coming out strong," Dixon said.